Medical Assistant Pay in the Southeastern U.S.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released earlier this year put the number of medical assistants (MA) at work in the United States at over 763,000 as of May 2023. Per BLS data, approximately 195,000 medical assistant jobs were in the twelve-state Southeastern region of the country. In general, the Southeastern U.S. was the worst in the nation for medical assistant pay, with six states in the region ranked among the ten states in the country with the lowest annual mean wage level for medical assistants. Moreover, as of May 2023, no state in the region recorded a medical assistant annual mean wage level that was above the national average.  A closer examination of BLS data reveals the following details about medical assistant pay in the Southeastern U.S. as of May 2023:

Medical Assistant Pay in the Southeastern U.S

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
AL	12,360	$34,160	50th
AR	4,700	$35,560	47th
FL	55,110	$40,530	33rd
GA	25,160	$39,640	36th
KY	12,460	$37,090	46th
LA	10,610	$33,610	51st
MS	3,590	$34,630	49th
NC	22,950	$40,880	31st
SC	9,530	$38,520	43rd
TN	18,640	$38,860	42nd
VA	16,100	$42,010	27th
WV	4,120	$34,660	48th
U.S.	763,020	$42,404	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on January 8, 2024